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Women’s League Reads

You are invited to join Women’s League Reads, a worldwide conversation about books of interest to today’s Jewish women. Women’s League Reads is a moderated online discussion group, via Google Groups, for members of Women’s League in which everyone is invited to post comments, ask questions and make observations about the book.

Women’s League Reads is pleased to announce its latest pick: Eternal Life by Dara Horn. An interview with the author will be held on Wednesday, April 25, 2018 at 8:30 p.m. EST .

In this highly original new work, the protagonist, Rachel, lives her first of many lives in Roman-occupied Jerusalem and witnesses its destruction. She is the mother of Rabbi Yochanan ben Zakai, the historical figure whose disciples snuck him past Roman guards in a coffin, and who thereby established the continuity of Torah study in exile.

Rachel’s desperation to save him as a toddler from a fatal illness leads her and her partner to take a vow in the Temple in a non-negotiable deal—the child lives, but the pair become immortal. Throughout the centuries, the two are reborn as 18-year-old Jews in each successive life, creating hundreds of children, all beloved but mortal. As her lover stalks her through time, Rachel desperately tries to escape the roulette wheel of her immortality.

“An elegant musing on sacredness, history, and purpose that is, at the same time, a deliciously romantic, highly suspenseful page-turner.” – Geraldine Brooks, author of The Secret Chord

Dara Horn holds a Ph.D. from Harvard University in Comparative Literature, with a specialty in Hebrew and Yiddish modern fiction. Visit her official website here, and learn more about Eternal Life at Jewish Book Council and Publishers Weekly.

WL Reads is a member benefit program that you may subscribe to by contacting Lois Silverman, Internet Services Chair, at lsilverman@wlcj.org, with your email address, sisterhood name/town/state or individual member information, and thereby join the online group for book news and discussions.

For more recommended reading lists, check out the following links:
The Book Corner – New and Recommended Titles from the Women’s League Book Team
Orpah’s List – Book recommendations from past WL book clubs, study guides, and supplementary promotional materials

Conversations with the chosen authors and scholars:

To listen to our conversation with Rachel Kadish, author of The Weight of Ink, click here.
To listen to our conversation with Jennifer S. Brown, author of Modern Girls, click here.
To listen to our conversation with Deborah Tannen, author of You’re the Only One I Can Tell: Inside the Language of Women’s Friendships, click here.
To listen to our conversation with Betsy Lerner, author of The Bridge Ladies: A Memoir, click here.
To listen to our inter-generational conversation with Erica Perl, author of When Life Gives You OJ, click here.
To listen to our cooking lesson with Mollie Katzen, author of The Moosewood Cookbook, click here.
To listen to our conversation with Lauren Belfer, author of And After the Fire, click here.
To listen to our conversation with Sarit Yishai-Levi, author of The Beauty Queen of Jerusalem, click here.
To listen to our conversation with Joy Ladin, author of Through the Door of Life: A Jewish Journey Between Genders, click here.
To listen to our conversation with Phyllis Chesler, author of An American Bride in Kabul, click here.
To listen to our conversation with Gina Nahai, author of The Luminous Heart of Jonah S, click here.
To listen to our interactive, inter-generational program for Sydney Taylor’s All of a Kind Family, click here.

To join Women’s League Reads, click here. Include your name, email, sisterhood, or notice that you are an individual member of Women’s League (not a member of a sisterhood). In addition to reading together, we look forward to sharing some exciting benefits of participation in this group.